Heretofore, the present applicant has provided a very thin flat cable in which a plurality of very thin coaxial cables are arranged in parallel and the plurality of adjacent very thin coaxial cables are assembled by weaving each of a predetermined number of very thin coaxial cables with a multiplicity of filaments without giving rise to deformation. Since the very thin coaxial cables are assembled by weaving each of a predetermined number of very thin coaxial cables with a multiplicity of thin flexible and stretchable filaments to provide the very thin flat cable, the flat cable has a large degree of freedom in the direction of bending or flexure. Further, when the coaxial cables are formed in a flat configuration, it is possible to reduce the adverse effect on electrical properties, such as the characteristic impedance of the very thin coaxial cables (JP 2001-101934 A (Japanese Patent No. 3648103)).
Since the flat cable described above is made by assembling a plurality of very thin coaxial cables by weaving them with a multiplicity of thin stretchable filaments, it has a large degree of freedom in the direction of bending or flexure. Further, since the filament used has a low coefficient of expansion and contraction so as not to adversely affect the electrical properties of the flat cable, the flat cable has high restorability. Thus, the flat cable can be freely bent or flexed, and since the very thin coaxial cables do not deviate freely from the woven mesh structure when the flat cable is bent or flexed, the restoring force acts so as to restore the original shape of the flat cable, and the original shape of the flat cable can be easily restored.
On the other hand, in the field of development of electronic apparatuses, such as personal data assistant, which have increasingly high performance and small size, use of the very thin flat cable as an internal wiring cable is in demand, since it is formed by weaving very thin coaxial cables with a multiplicity of thin filaments and adverse effect on the electrical properties, such as a characteristic impedance of the very thin coaxial cables can be reduced. Thus, in order to freely lay out the flat cable inside an electronic apparatus, there is strong demand to provide a flat cable that can be freely bent while maintaining its planar configuration and that permits the bent and deformed shape to be maintained.